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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2015-10-04 05:18 pm

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Tigana: Anniversary Edition

4/5. Years ago, a conquering wizard cursed the land of Tigana out of existence. Only those born on its soil can say its name, or remember it exists, and they will slowly die out as their children forget. A small pack of minstrels set out to bring it back.

I really liked this. And I wish I didn't.

I mean, what a great concept, right? This is what I wish fantasy was more often about, turning magic upon some of the fundamental ways we organize ourselves as people, and wrecking those ways, and seeing what happens. Here it's a nation silently erased, a people scattered and forced never to speak of their home. I mean, the injustice of this worked on me, of all people,* so you know the book is good.

That said, wow how much do I wish our copyright system was more sensible and someone could officially remix this book now. Someone like Leckie, say, or Jemisin, or de Bodard, or Monette, maybe. Someone, uh, not GGK.

Because, well. In the beginning of this book, as one of the protagonists was introduced and we found out he was queer, I instantly thought He's so going to die and yuuuup, called it. Not only that, but he was specifically allowed to die by his father, who declined to make the required sacrifice to save him, and it's all so tragic, you guys. It becomes far less tragic, and far more uh-huh, when the father later makes that exact sacrifice to save a straight person. Which is not even starting on the concubines, because of course there is a concubine, there is always a sexual captive in GGK's books, always, he has a sexuality, you guys, and it encompasses all varieties of women as concubine/sex slave/prostitute, and every time I read a book of his I get that bit more skeeved out. Anyway, without spoilers this time, what happens to the concubine – what the narrative ordains as her just path – makes me seethingly angry.

So this is a beautiful book. Truly. It touched me in a way I fully expected it not to. But it's also by GGK, so it's wildly overwrought, and, well, fucking gross in a lot of ways. And I wish someone else had written it, because that book, written by the right person, could be one of the best books I've ever read.

*I'm one of the least nationalistic people you're likely to meet. I take no pride in my country, or all the handwringing despair most of my friends seem to; either of those would require believing that my country actually exists as an identity in any meaningful way, other than a nonsense concept people trot out for rhetorical convenience. None of this particularly matters for daily life. I just blank out any sentences including "America is" or that otherwise attempt to claim some sort of meaningful national identity. Oh, and I find the Olympics a nearly intolerable exercise in mindless jingoism. This book worked on me anyway, largely because it focused on the destruction of culture as the true evil done (which is right, I think –there's a reason that cultural destruction, even without the taking of life, is considered a kind of genocide). The book (I think? I read this in June and my notes are somewhat . . . unclear) treats identity as synonymous with that culture, which I don't think is right, but that's not really the point, and it worked on me anyway.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2015-10-04 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I read this around when it first came out. It was compelling, but I've never wanted to open it again. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever reread a GGK book. I gave up on him when I realized that I found it impossible to read what he wrote if he was riffing off of something I knew a bit about.
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[personal profile] readerjane 2015-10-04 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw the post header and thought, "huh, she read another GGK - I thought she hated his writing... Four??"

I also loved Tigana, despite all. That scene where the soldiers force the character to say the name of his country and offer to pay anyone who can repeat it: it feels like that nightmare where you keep talking and no one can understand you.
yunitsa: Sexby and Angelica from The Devil's Whore; 17th c. woman in dark cloak with man in hat behind her (Default)

[personal profile] yunitsa 2015-10-05 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
All of this, seriously. It's been so long since I read it that I don't remember details, but I'm still annoyed about Dianora. But then GGK can do evocative and elegiac so well...